Historic Croatian synagogue vandalized

Police are investigating an attack on the entrance to the historic synagogue in the Croatian city of Split, on the Adriatic coast.

Unidentified persons covered the walls, doors and the information plaque around the entrance to the synagogue and Jewish community office with spray painted anti-Semitic and xenophobic graffiti including swastikas and slogans, during the night of May 29-30.

Some of the slogans were directed toward political figures and the European Union, and scrawled ‘signatures’ included the supporters of the local soccer club Hajduk and an extreme right-wing radical Croatian party.

A statement by the Jewish community released after the incident said the graffiti differed from other such instances in the city by “the larger quantity of graffiti and hatred emanating from them.”

“Good will, ability and efficiency of the relevant authorities to find the vandals as promptly as possible and punish them appropriately with educational effects will provide an insight in how much such incidents represent acts of an individual, and how much they reflect a more general attitude of the society,” the statement added.

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